By Mercy King’ori

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has developed The Traffic (Digital Hailing Service) Rules, 2020. The aim of the Rules is to regulate digitally hailed taxis in the country that have penetrated Kenya’s public transport. Following the creation of the Rules, NTSA convened a public participation forum at KICC. Members of the public provided recommendations on how to improve the Rules before they enactment.

NTSA  has held and continues to hold similar forums in different towns in the country where the digital hailing services are provided. The event was well attended by the drivers and representatives of the companies operating the services in the country.

In justifying the need for the Rules, NTSA representatives stated that the current rules governing public service vehicles; NTSA(Operation of PSV) Regulations did not envision such advancements. Thus, it is necessary to create new Rules. The forum began with reading through the Rules by the Deputy Director of Licensing at NTSA. The attendees were later invited to comment on the areas that need amendment.

The comments focused on certain provisions of the Rules including: pricing concerns, security of the drivers, listing operators as transport companies and employers, concerns about deactivating the drivers and concerns about the nature of contracts as stipulated by the Rules.

NTSA has invited further comments from the public on the Rules. The deadline for submitting the comments is on 17th February, 2020.